fever dream
roots unwind in fraying deltas
and the sun swallows the lake whole.
silk threads of a qípáo fester
to the rusted iron of a pistol,
red spilling on red, gunfire like sewage
slicking the streets. a girl unfolds
in the tremoloing heat, feet ridged
in scabs. she traces potholed
dreams: crack of hawthorn lacquered
in sugar, laughter tangled in the wind,
the sun a medallion and lake glossed
blood red at dusk. sky falling to reeds,
forgotten lullabies ringed in ripples.
instead she can only tongue want.
her feet following grit of cobblestone
leading nowhere. branded in slits of iron,
bones rattling in a shriveled husk.
a mirage settles viscous in the air,
like honey gilding her vision—
silk unraveling around her body.
and the sun swallows the lake whole.
silk threads of a qípáo fester
to the rusted iron of a pistol,
red spilling on red, gunfire like sewage
slicking the streets. a girl unfolds
in the tremoloing heat, feet ridged
in scabs. she traces potholed
dreams: crack of hawthorn lacquered
in sugar, laughter tangled in the wind,
the sun a medallion and lake glossed
blood red at dusk. sky falling to reeds,
forgotten lullabies ringed in ripples.
instead she can only tongue want.
her feet following grit of cobblestone
leading nowhere. branded in slits of iron,
bones rattling in a shriveled husk.
a mirage settles viscous in the air,
like honey gilding her vision—
silk unraveling around her body.
May 2024
Allison Wu is a high school student from upstate New York. Her work has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and Hollins University. Her writing can be found or is forthcoming in Eunoia Review, The Lunar Journal, and londemere lit.
Art: Tending to My Jardín, Tending to Myself by Kat Cervantes